Timothy Treadwell...An Obsession

Timothy Treadwell.
His story has a grip on my psyche that is almost obsessive in its magnitude.
For those unaware of his story, he is ‘The Grizzly Man”. He spent over a dozen summers in Alaska, living among brown bears in nothing but a tent. No guns, no bear spray, no electric fences. His film and photography can only be described as amazing. He ‘loved’ ‘his bears’. He felt they were misunderstood as dangerous man-killers. He taught children this message. He took risks no sane man would take. He and a female companion were killed and eaten by ‘his bears’.
Part of the attraction of Mr. Treadwell and his story for me is that I can see the allure. I can understand his fascination. I have more than a few times come upon bears in the wild and each event has been an experience I will never forget. There is a rawness to the meetings. A closeness to nature and the natural world that is hard to describe. A realization that this creature you are staring down can end your life at a moment’s whim. And when it does not, feelings of closeness and awe overtake you. Of being a part of the environment rather than something from the outside. It is a kinship with nature. I am sure this was one aspect of the addiction Timothy Treadwell developed while living in the last frontier.
But my obsession with Mr. Treadwell comes less from the nature of the world than from the nature of the man.
You see, Timothy Treadwell was the quintessential Liberal. I willingly admit that I do not know this man’s politics. But this matters little. It is in his actions that I find the perfect case study. And this is what this man’s life has become for me. A study in the Liberal mind.
I have devoured every book I could find on his life and his unfortunate demise. I have watched all or parts of Werner Hertzog’s documentary “The Grizzly Man” nearly a half dozen times. Seen the reactions of his associates to the documentary. Read numerous articles and blog posts on the subject. Spent literally hours in thought on the mental processes of this man’s mind.
And here is what I have found.
Mr. Treadwell exhibited all of the mental aspects that are the building blocks of the Liberal psyche.
There was his simmering anger at ‘the establishment’ for not recognizing his obvious talents. Treadwell endeavored many times to get his ‘scientific’ study of the brown bears of Alaska recognized by the academic community. He was often at odds with the Alaskan Park Service over his claims of poaching and his ‘protection’ of ‘his bears’. His anger boils over at one point in “The Grizzly Man” when he goes on an extended tirade against ‘the establishment’ and how he is the true protector of ‘his bears’.
Which brings us to the next aspect of the Liberal mind. Narcissism. Treadwell truly believed he alone stood between the bears and their ultimate annihilation. That he was their sole savior.
He longed to be a star. His friends freely admitted his lust to be viewed as ‘a rock star’. He reveled in his appearances on the Letterman and Rosie O’Donnell shows.
In his younger years, if he felt the story of his life was not exciting enough, he would merely change the facts to make it so.
One need only watch his self-important blustering and posturing on nearly every frame of “The Grizzly Man” film to get the point here. ‘Hey look at me, I’m Timothy!’ Like a child crying for attention.
And here we have the next point, a child like naivete. I use the term ‘naivete’ here with reservation as it refers to a lack of understanding of the facts. I feel Treadwell understood the dangers present in his endeavors but either consciously or subconsciously chose to ignore them. His reality would crumble if the truth of the nature of the grizzly were to rise to the surface of his mind.
And every meeting with the bears that did not end in his death simply reinforced this reality for him. He felt no need for the protections most other outdoorsmen in bear country would consider merely common sense...things such as guns, bear spray, electric fences around one’s tent. He felt these things could injure the bears he loved, and childishly refused to use them.
His was a life of activism, another Liberal attribute. Activism is described here as an uncritical, irrational drive toward a particular goal.
Mr. Treadwell saw in his life a chance to prove brown bears were misunderstood as dangerous wild animals. He was driven to make this contention so, the facts be damned. He paid the ultimate price for his dismissal of reality in the advancing of his cause.
Let me close with these last thoughts. I can not deny that Treadwell had a pair of brass ones. No matter the mental meanderings one must enforce upon one’s own psyche, to live among brown and grizzly bears for months at a time alone in the wilderness takes a man of no small mettle. For this he can be admired. But his knowing disassociation with reality always seems to creep back into any honest discussion on the subject. For his life cannot be truly understood without the acknowledgment of the facts of his death. He felt the reason for his life(his activism) was to show the world that it misunderstood ‘his bears’. The facts of his death proved otherwise. He felt it was his life’s work to protect all ‘his bears’. The deaths of the bears found feeding on his corpse gave lie to this, as well.
Yet in the last moments of Treadwell’s life something happened. While in the jaws of a grizzly, he shouted to his female companion to run. He understood his life was over and tried to save hers. In the final seconds of his existence he left 'Timothy' behind and grew up.

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes